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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23718406">May There Be No Sadness or Farewell</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altenprano/pseuds/Altenprano'>Altenprano</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Flintlocks &amp; Fireballs (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>I REGRET NOTHING, I listened to Ballad of Barnacle Point and Crossing the Bar on alternating loop and this happened, There are sad things ahead, mention of npc death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:00:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>773</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23718406</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altenprano/pseuds/Altenprano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the aftermath of Barnacle Point is somewhat addressed</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>May There Be No Sadness or Farewell</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So this was brought about by listening to Ballad of Barnacle Barnacle Point and Crossing the Bar on an alternating loop. Contains spoilers for Corzin Horhace's backstory after ep 20ish.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>The storm has come and gone, leaving wreckage and heavy silence in its wake. What survivors there are venture forth tentatively to begin clearing debris and the dead, some freezing in place as the wind shifts, as if the storm might return at any moment to sweep them away too.Overhead, the gulls are silent- they have been for days now- and the skies are clear, as if a storm didn’t just tear through the town, as if it was never there to begin with. A moment and the silence is broken by the calling of names, or by the anguished cries that can only be ascribed to grief.</p><p>He is among those calling, his voice frantic as he makes his way through what remains of the town, only half-aware of where he is, of where he is going. The faces of neighbors pass, but he doesn’t give them a second glance, he doesn’t stop to help, urgency propelling him through the streets until he finds himself on a familiar doorstep. </p><p>It is familiar in that he recognizes the shutters on the ground- weathered and almost new afte the old ones succumbed to rot only four months ago- and knows that this half-wreck is his home. </p><p>“Wendel!” </p><p>There is no response, no sign of life as he begins picking his way across the threshold, calling his brother’s name as loud and as often as he can, until he feels the beginning of hoarseness on  his words. He pauses only to shift a fallen beam out of his way, not waiting to catch his breath before he rushes forward, praying to the Regent that his brother is somewhere among the wreckage. </p><p>“Wendel!” </p><p>Still nothing. The house is empty, a silent wreck, like the houses that stand next to it. </p><p>Still, he tries again, and again, and again, until his throat is raw and the sounds that follow are painful and ragged. But he can’t stop. His brother is somewhere- in the unturned wreckage, waiting for rescue, or maybe out searching himself- and he can’t stop until he’s found and safe.</p><p>Those still missing are assumed to be dead, and still no sign of Wendel. </p><p>Whatever scraps of hope he’s clung to are gone, and he doesn’t try to gather them, finally struck silent as it hits him. </p><p>Wendel’s gone, and no amount of calling will bring him back. </p><p>He’s gone.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>There’s nothing here for him now. </p><p>It’s his first coherent thought in days, once the haze of grief has become little more than a thin mist, and it is then he finds himself packing what little belongings remain into a rucksack. </p><p>There’s nothing left of the Barnacle Point he knew. Already, the skyline has changed and the shops and homes on familiar streets feel strange and foreign as people begin to rebuild. Most of his neighbors have died, or left, he doesn’t know. There’s no sign of Rosemarta, but it hardly occurs to him to care- any feeling hardly compares to the vast, gaping emptiness that is the loss of his family, which, with Wendel, he realizes is really gone.  </p><p>He packs his rucksack and heads towards the docks, where help has come a little too late for the people of Barnacle Point. He doesn’t count the ships in the harbor, or study them as he might’ve done from the end of the pier weeks ago, waiting for a fish to bite or watching the sun set. Instead he signs on with the first ship that’ll take him- everyone who’s able seems to have the same idea- and soon he’s halfway up the gangplank of a Wendish naval ship. </p><p>He looks over his shoulder, surveying what remains of Barnacle Point, the ruined fort, the swathe of homes and shops wrecked by wind and water. He looks towards where he knows the wreck of his home would be, though at this distance, he can’t see it, only imagine what it might look like, empty of the family that once lived there. </p><p>It doesn’t occur to him until he sets foot on the deck of the ship that he might never return to Barnacle Point. </p><p>Why would he return? There’s nothing for him here, only grief and the ghost of a brother he never got the chance to say goodbye to. </p><p>The thought is fleeting, same as the glance he gives the shore as the ship leaves port, as if he expects to see Wendel smiling and waving to him from the quay, even though by this point he should know better. </p><p>His brother is gone, and he is alone, with only the sea before him.</p>
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